MySpace to launch local business site for reviews

Wednesday

NEW YORK (AP) — MySpace, seeking to evolve beyond its roots as a social hub for music and celebrity fans, is working with Citysearch to let people review businesses like bars and restaurants.

The new site, MySpace Local, merges Citysearch's huge database of local business listings with the online hangout's vast community of users. That will let MySpace users rate their neighborhood eateries and nightlife and share what they think with their friends.

MySpace said the deal is a "defining moment" in its move to become a portal for social activity on the Web, something to which rival Facebook also has been trying to stake claim. MySpace is also capitalizing on the popularity of peer-review sites like Yelp, whose users have written more than 5 million reviews.

Until now, technology has not "maximized the ability for friends to tell friends what restaurants to eat at, what plumber to use, what games to play, what cars to buy, what movies to watch, and so on," said Jeff Berman, MySpace's sales and marketing chief.

MySpace Local, he said, should help MySpace users discover new businesses the way they now use the site to discover and share music and videos.

The company hopes that friends' reviews will prove more trustworthy than a stranger's. And even if the reviewer isn't a friend, being able to click on that person's MySpace profile can provide insight beyond what you'd get from just a username at other sites.

MySpace said it's looking to enable conversations around neighborhood businesses.

"Whether this ultimately will apply to laundry detergent or orange juice is anyone's guess, but for local businesses — in particular restaurants and nightlife — it's a smart bet," Berman said in a conference call Tuesday.

MySpace is owned by News Corp. and has more than 130 million active, according to comScore Inc. The company is testing the service on an invitation-only basis and plans to launch MySpace Local for public use in the United States later this month before expanding it elsewhere.

Citysearch, which is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, recently rolled out a revamped version of its standalone site to include more local guides. The site is also participating in Facebook's "Connect" program, which lets people sign in using their Facebook account and share their reviews back on Facebook.

— Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer

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